Rep. Chandler

Before lawmakers dig in their heels on the size of the inflation relief rebates they will take up at an April 5 special legislative session, they may want to consider what tens of thousands of New Mexican workers are up against. 

For most of the the well-off 112 legislators the raging inflation is mostly an inconvenience. They are able to make adjustments but that's not possible for many of the state's workers who are among the lowest paid in the nation. For them skyrocketing gas and grocery prices are dire. 

Data journalism site Stacker took a look at some of the lowest paid jobs in the ABQ metro and compared them to the national average using stats from May of 2020. Neither figure is uplifting but are a reminder to legislators and the Governor about who really needs help and why. Examples: 

State House tax committee chair Christine Chandler of Los Alamos says she is eyeing rebates of $350 for single filers and $700 for married households. There would be no income roof on the rebates as there was with a $250 round of rebates approved at the recent legislative session. 

That number is an improvement on the chintzy proposals from the Legislative Finance Committee, one of which took the rebates as low as $110. But there is still much room to go higher if Chandler and her colleagues can stop wedding themselves to a General Fund reserve figure set at an historically high and arbitrary 30 percent. 

Chandler proposes no income limit for the rebates; that everyone should get a cut. That could work but she might want to study the rebates Gov. Richardson fashioned in 2008 whose amounts went down as the income level went up. 

Chandler should know better than anyone about income inequality, hailing as she does from Los Alamos--one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. 

As of May 2020, Stacker reports the annual mean (average) wage in ABQ was $51,590 or 8.4% lower than national mean of $56,310, while the lowest-paying occupation makes $20,710. 

As today's low wage salaries illustrate, it is on that end of the pay spectrum where the need for relief from the inflation surge is most extreme.

PLASTIC BAG VETO

We had ABQ Mayor Keller not vetoing the City Council approved bill to once again allow single use plastic bags popular with city grocery shoppers but after intense debate the Mayor vetoed the bill after all, and now prepares to be overridden by the council.  

The veto news was quietly sent out late Friday afternoon to avoid heavy coverage. 

The measure passed on a veto proof 6 to 3 vote but Keller's progressive base was rankled by the outcome and pushed for the veto, even though the override could make him look even weaker with a freshly emboldened city council. According to TV news, Keller said in his veto message that he would like to work with the council on a new ordinance. 

SANCHEZ VS. MEDINA

APD Chief Harold Medina is out with a pointed response to criticism leveled by City Councilor Louie Sanchez at Monday's Council meeting. Sanchez questioned APD's overtime policy in light of a news report that disclosed that an APD lieutenant received a salary of over $242,000 that included $131,000 in overtime. Says Medina: 

Lt. Edison never worked in the Chief’s Office, as stated in the news story. Further, the statement attributed to me was a response to a question about Lt. Edison’s supervisor during his assignment. I made the point that Lt. Edison’s supervisor was a Deputy Chief, and not a Commander, which I determined to be problematic and fixed the problem. Commanders typically oversee lieutenants, including oversight of their overtime; whereas Deputy Chiefs oversee Commanders, who are exempt employees and do not earn overtime. 

That is why I said Deputy Chiefs on my Executive Team should not be managing officers’ time sheets. The KRQE story fails to mention that when Lt. Edison was eventually put under the supervision of a Commander, that Commander scrutinized his timesheets and found discrepancies, which were reported up the chain of command and investigated. 

 In addition, I understand you (Sanchez) mentioned that you learned as a young officer that your timesheet is the “single most important item that you deal with as a police officer.” I don’t disagree that you may have been told that. But I strongly disagree with that viewpoint. Frankly, that approach to the job is the type of culture we have been changing since I have been Chief.

Councilor Sanchez is a retired APD officer. His career included serving on the security detail for Mayor Martin Chavez. 

Overtime abuse at APD has been a systemic problem with the state conducting seven audits since 2014 that have been critical of overtime abuse at the department.

BLACKOUT PERIOD (CONT.)

Sometimes even the experts get confused. 

We consulted a state senator, a county elections official and political consultant about the blackout period for campaign fundraising during the special legislative session set to begin April 5th. They all said the blackout includes the Governor, Lt. Governor and the "candidates" for Governor. But the candidates for Governor are not included, only the incumbent Gov. and Lt. Gov. And that gives us the opportunity to do a deep dive into the legislative weeds.

There's two sections of the state law regarding the blackout, the first applies to the legislative positions and statewide offices other than Governor:

It is unlawful during the prohibited period for a state legislator, the attorney general, the secretary of state, the state treasurer, the commissioner of public lands or the state auditor or a candidate for state legislator, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, commissioner of public lands or state auditor, or any agent on behalf of the attorney general, the secretary of state, the state treasurer, the commissioner of public lands or the state auditor or a candidate for attorney general, the secretary of state, state treasurer, commissioner of public lands or state auditor, to knowingly solicit a contribution governed by the Campaign Reporting Act.     

And here is the section of law specifically addressing the blackout for the Governor and Lt. Governor:

It is unlawful during the prohibited period for the governor or the lieutenant governor, or any agent on the governor's or the lieutenant governor's behalf, to knowingly solicit a contribution governed by the Campaign Reporting Act. For purposes of this subsection, "prohibited period" means that period beginning January 1 prior to any regular session of the legislature or, in the case of a special session, after the proclamation has been issued, and ending on the twentieth day following the adjournment of the regular or special session.

The statute can be called out for failing to apply the blackout to candidates for Governor. In any case, the GOP Guv candidates needn't worry. They are free to dial for dollars during and after the special session. 

For MLG the 20 day ban on fundraising following adjournment of the special is a minor inconvenience. She is already expected to far out-raise her GOP opposition. 

There was a bill introduced at the last regular session--SB6--clarifying sections of election law but it did not win approval. 

The bill would have applied the blackout period to all gubernatorial candidates. In addition, for a special or extraordinary session the prohibited fundraising period for the Governor, Lt. Gov. and candidates for those offices would expire the day after the last bill is signed or vetoed or 29 days later, whichever is first. So, for example, if a Governor signed all the bills on the third day, there would no be reason to continue the blackout on fundraising for another 17 days. 

The weeds grow high in a New Mexico spring. 

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